Life Lessons
by TweekFan
Summary: Just a short oneshot of Kyle reflecting on his friends and their lives.


This is just a little story that came to me this morning so I wrote it down. Just a little one-shot about life, nothing too thrilling. I don't own South Park or the characters, obviously.

I stand on my balcony looking at the cars below me. It's a huge drop to the ground below and it makes me dizzy. I'm not sure why I come out here and do this, but I do it almost every night. Even when it's freezing and there balcony is buried in snow I'll still stand at the edge and look down at the street. Somehow it helps me think and reflect on my life. I wonder exactly how I ended up here, without any of the people that I grew up with. Things never turn out like expect, but this far different than I ever imagined when I was growing up. I think about my old friends ad wonder if their lives turned out like they expected or if they have the same thoughts I do.

Stan turned out to be pretty much what everybody expected him to be. Popular and athletic, he was the king of our high school. He never was much of a scholar, enough to keep his eligibility, but not enough to get any recognition. I guess it's not too important when you're the star player for your football team, especially when you get into the championships three years in a row. He was much less successful with his romantic life then he was on the football field. He rarely dated anyone more than a couple weeks. He went through the same pattern until junior year. It was rather surprising when he landed a date with Courtney Shea, she was the snobbiest girl in our school. Her dad was an investment banker of some kind so she always had plenty of money. That was the relationship that stuck, I remember it being a big deal when they celebrated their three month anniversary. By the time we graduated it seemed like they were going to be together forever. Nobody was too surprised when Stan proposed two years later at some fancy restaurant in Denver. They wasted no time, having a lavish wedding six months later at the church in South Park, I was Stan's best man of course. He looked so blissfully happy to be up there, the smile didn't leave his face the entire night. The honeymoon was in Hawaii and everyone was jealous of them. Courtney graduated a semester ahead of Stan and landed a job in New York. Stan finished school there, earning his degree in business. They divorced a year later due to the fact that they were both having affairs. Stan made off like a bandit, getting half her wealth. Stan and I didn't talk much after he moved to New York. So when he decided to stay in New York, that was pretty much the end of our friendship. He got too busy in his life for me. Last I heard he was engaged again, I think her name is Samantha.

At some point Kenny became my best friend. I'm not sure when exactly it happened, I just noticed it one day when he was over at my apartment. He worked everyday after school yet still managed to pull decent grades. I think he tried to avoid going home as much as possible. I can't say I blame him, his parents fights got worse as time passed. He spent quite a few nights at my house through school, sometimes showing up right after he left work, sometimes showing up after Midnight. I never questioned it and he never said anything of it, we were both happy that way. Kenny eating breakfast with us was common, I'm not sure what my parents thought of it, but they seemed to approach the situation the same way that I did. He couldn't afford college of course, but moved to Denver with us anyway. He worked at the same store the whole four years that everyone else was in college. He never had any relationships, but when I questioned this he just told me that he was too busy for that. I dropped it there, not mentioning the fact that he was over at my dorm for the fifth night in a row. By the time everyone else was graduating Kenny had become the head manager of the store and earned a decent living at it. We saw each other less after graduation since we were both busy with our jobs. A year afterwards, Kenny got a promotion to a corporate position. He moved to Washington where the offices were located and continued with the same work ethic he had since he first started working. We talked fairly regularly after he moved, sharing stories of our jobs and our new friends. Kenny eventually did get married to a girl that worked in his office, I was his best man too. She seemed like a nice woman and Kenny always told me that he was very happy with her. They're still married today with two kids whom Kenny's very proud of. We don't talk as much as we used to, but we try to have a good conversation every month.

Then there's Cartman, the guy that nobody liked. He surprised me more than anyone else ever has. In our sophomore year he had a radical personality change. He was like an entirely different person. He stopped mocking me constantly and even started to show some affection to me. I was stunned to say the least, but I always rejected his advances. He pursued me for the better part of a year, but eventually stopped when I continued to brush him off. It wasn't until our junior year when he got a terrible case of pneumonia that he told us about his cancer. It made sense, after all he was much skinnier than he had been. He was in the hospital for a week before I went to see him on a Saturday. I sat there for an hour and talked with him. We talked about anything and everything, including his feelings, it was the first time that I really acknowledged his affection towards me. I kissed him before I left, smiling when I heard his heart monitor speed up. He died before I could see him again, just two days later. His lungs filled with fluid, he drowned in his hospital bed. It was a nice funeral, or at least as nice as one of those can be. Liane was a wreck, spending most of her time in a corner ban comforted by her family. There was a dedication to him in the year book too, a half-hearted gesture for the kid that most of the school despised.

After Cartman died, I went back to my life. It surprised me how much his death impacted me, but I continued living my life the closest to normal that I could. When Clyde asked me out several months later, I reluctantly agreed. He was sweet and kind through the entire date, we had a good time. Half a year into it our relationship started to get more physical. It was difficult for me for reasons I can't even explain myself. We'd always end up at his house since my parents would never give us any real privacy. I'd give him his proper end, but stop him when he tried to reciprocate. All of our nights ended with us sleeping back to back in his bed. He made a big deal out of our one year anniversary, taking me to the nicest place in town. Of course in South Park that was the cheesy Italian restaurant, but it was sweet nonetheless. I finally let him have me that night and I never regretted it. He was as gentle and sweet as he had been for our entire relationship. We were together until we graduated when we both agreed to break it off. He was going to school on the east coast and neither of us wanted to deal with that relationship. I still see him occasionally when he comes back in town for a holiday. We'll usually go have dinner together and catch up ending the night with a peck on the cheek.

I met Steven at a Jewish mixer while I was in school. It truly was love at first sight, he is a rather fetching man. We can't get married of course, but we did have a ceremony. My parents were less than thrilled, but they still showed up. My mom was happy that at least he was Jewish, I know since she made sure to mention it to me. I ended up teaching art at a private school and Steven worked in a law office, eventually earning partner. We have a wonderful life together and we're as much in love as when we first met. I'm happy with him and my life, everything turned out pretty well. I turn and head back inside, dinner should be about ready now and Steven's an incredible cook.


End file.
